COLUMN: Big Apple shouldn't be permanent home for ACC tourney

By Brett Friedlander

Published: Friday, May 17, 2013 at 11:54 PM.

The biggest buzz coming out of the ACC’s annual spring meetings this week was the revelation that the league is “thoroughly investigating” playing its men’s basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York.

That’s hardly breaking news, considering that commissioner John Swofford specifically brought up the possibility almost a year ago at a press conference announcing Syracuse and Pittsburgh as the ACC’s then-newest members.

This is one of those subjects that don’t need anonymous sources to confirm.

The ACC tournament will eventually be played at the world’s most famous arena. It’s just a matter of when and how often.

Swofford wants it. The league’s coaches, led by a growing number of former Big East loyalists, want it. And Lord knows, ESPN wants it.

There are probably even a healthy number of fans who think it might be good for the ACC’s image pack up its most marketable asset and transplant it from Mayberry to a city and arena that will afford it the greatest possible exposure.

The biggest buzz coming out of the ACC’s annual spring meetings this week was the revelation that the league is “thoroughly investigating” playing its men’s basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York.

That’s hardly breaking news, considering that commissioner John Swofford specifically brought up the possibility almost a year ago at a press conference announcing Syracuse and Pittsburgh as the ACC’s then-newest members.

This is one of those subjects that don’t need anonymous sources to confirm.

The ACC tournament will eventually be played at the world’s most famous arena. It’s just a matter of when and how often.

Swofford wants it. The league’s coaches, led by a growing number of former Big East loyalists, want it. And Lord knows, ESPN wants it.

There are probably even a healthy number of fans who think it might be good for the ACC’s image pack up its most marketable asset and transplant it from Mayberry to a city and arena that will afford it the greatest possible exposure.

But is it really such a good idea?

Once in a while, perhaps.

But if Swofford and the league’s presidents have visions of dollar signs dancing in their heads over the prospect of permanently filling the void left by the Big East’s demise, then they’re making a major tactical mistake.

The ACC isn’t and never will be the Big East, no matter how many of its former teams it adds.

Try as it might, the league can’t recreate the passion and excitement that was generated when Syracuse, Georgetown and their traditional rivals got together to battle it out amid the skyscrapers with a title on the line. Nor can it import that same kind of environment when original ACC members North Carolina, Duke and N.C. State play each other outside the boundaries of the league’s traditional geographic footprint.

It tried a few years ago by taking the tournament to Tampa and failed miserably.

Fans either couldn’t or chose not to travel so far from home to attend the games, adversely affecting both the original and secondary ticket markets.

The problem only figures to become more exaggerated in New York, where hotel rooms the size of a walk-closet routinely go for $200-$300 a night and a meal for two at a decent restaurant can easily run upwards of $100. Multiply that by four nights and the average ACC fan simply can’t afford to make a trip like that every year.

But who cares about the rank-and-file fan when there’s gobs of money to be grabbed?

That’s what college sports is all about, anymore. Rivalries, tradition and geographic footprints have been trumped on the list of priorities by sponsorships, television and alternative sources of revenue.

Nobody understands that better than Swofford. That’s how he’s been able to keep the ACC from being gobbled up by Jim Delany and the other cannibals of conference realignment over the past few years.

Hopefully, he also understands that in positioning itself to be strong for the future, the league must be mindful not to forget the roots that helped it become what it is today.

Remember what happened when NASCAR when it burned so many of its traditional bridges in an attempt to expand its sphere of influence a decade ago.

While there was an immediate spike in national interest and revenue when it moved races away from such traditional tracks as Rockingham, North Wilkesboro and Darlington for newer venues in Texas, California and Chicago, like all fads the novelty quickly faded. Both attendance and the flow of cash have dropped off considerably since.

It’s a pattern the ACC can avoid by making a smart decision about where its popular tournament is played.

Regardless of what Jim Boeheim and the national columnists will tell you, the ACC tournament is at its best when it’s in Greensboro. It’s a seven-hour or less drive from nine of the league’s 15 schools, making it accessible to the greatest number of fans. It’s also the biggest event in town each year, and it’s treated as such.

That might not be the case in New York, where you’d never know the tournament was going on two blocks away from the Garden.

That’s not to say there aren’t benefits – both competitive and financial – to playing the tournament in the world’s largest, most important city. And the ACC should take advantage of them now that it has the opportunity.